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Assam CAB protests: Angry mob sets BJP MLA Binod Hazarika’s house on fire, other property of BJP leaders vandalised

OpIndia Staff
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Assam CAB protests: Angry mob sets BJP MLA Binod Hazarika’s house on fire, other property of BJP leaders vandalised

Protests rage on in Assam for the fourth consecutive day against the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019 which sailed through both the Upper and Lower house and awaits the President’s assent before becoming a law.

As the protests swell, an angry mob in Assam’s Chabua district has set BJP MLA Binod Hazarika’s house on fire and went on the rampage torching vehicles and the circle office.

Moreover, the residence of Angoorlata Deka, who is BJP MLA from Assam’s Batadroba constituency, was vandalised by protesters and an incident of firing occurred outside the residence of Tapan Gogoi, BJP MP from Jorhat in Assam.

Santanu Bharali’s residence was also vandalised by protesters. He is the legal adviser to the Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal. The BJP office in Jorhat was also gheraoed by protesters, sources said.

The enraged protestors also attacked Assam Police chief Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta’s convoy on Thursday when he was touring the city. Stones were pelted as the cavalcade was on the Guwahati-Shillong Road near Christian Basti.

The convoy had to stop several times as the entire stretch was blocked by protesters who put up wooden structures and iron barricades. When the vehicles stopped in the Christian Basti area and security personnel were clearing the road, some protesters threw stones. No one was hurt and no damage occurred.

While mobile and internet services remain suspended in 10 districts of Assam, Guwahati, the epicentre of the protests, is under indefinite curfew. Army has been deployed in Assam and Tripura, and railway and air traffic are severely hit. Around 300 protestors have been detained.

According to reports, a contingent of Rashtriya Rifles has also reached the state to help the Central Armed Police Force. It is being reported that until now 5 columns of the military have been deployed in Assam whereas 3 columns have been deployed in Tripura.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill seeks to provide Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians, who entered the country from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan by December 31, 2014.

Amidst various rumour-mongering, the people of the Northeast fears that giving citizenship to refugees will dilute the local language and culture. While most Northeastern states are exempt from the Citizenship Amendment Bill due to the Inner Line Permit System and/or the sixth Schedule of the Constitution, Assam, and parts of Tripura, are protected by neither.

Assam, which has a porous border with Bangladesh, has long fought against the influx of Bangladeshi migrants.

As the protest in Assam continued to mount, PM Narendra Modi appealed to the people of Northeast, saying his government would safeguard their language, culture and identity “under all circumstances”.

Addressing an election rally in Jharkhand’s Dhanbad, Modi said, “I want to assure my brothers and sisters of Assam that they have nothing to worry after the passing of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. I want to assure them – no one can take away your rights, unique identity and beautiful culture. It will continue to flourish and grow.”

PM Modi also accused the Congress of misleading people of the Northeast.

Tarun Tejpal case: Bombay HC orders Mapusa court not to let defence lawyers pose irrelevant questions to the victim

OpIndia Staff
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Tarun Tejpal case: Bombay HC orders Mapusa court not to let defence lawyers pose irrelevant questions to the victim

The Goa bench of the Bombay High Court has directed the Mapusa trial court to not allow the lawyers representing the rape-accused Tarun Tejpal to ask ‘irrelevant’ and ‘humiliating’ questions to the survivor.

According to the reports, the victim had filed a petition in the Bombay High Court accusing the counsel of rape-accused Tarun Tejpal of asking her ‘irrelevant’ and ‘humiliating’ questions during the cross-examination.

Following the victim’s complaint, the Bombay HC had reportedly passed an interim order to the Mapusa court to ensure that no irrelevant questions are posed to the victim.


The hearing of the case is currently adjourned till 20th December. The cross-examination will restart from next week and likely to continue for the next four days. The cross-examination of the victim had begun on 21 October in an in-camera trial.

The trial, which began in September 2017, was delayed after Tejpal appealed to the Supreme Court pleading the quashing of the charges framed against him. However, the Supreme Court dismissed Tejpal’s plea which sought to quash charges against him. The bench comprising Justice Arun Mishra and Justice MR Shah said that the case against the Tehelka founder-editor would continue.

Tejpal is charged under several sections of the IPC for sexually assaulting his junior colleague inside a lift of a resort hotel in Goa during the magazine’s event. A journalist colleague of Tejpal had accused him of raping her inside an elevator in a Hotel Grand Hyatt, Goa, during Tehelka magazine’s THiNK 2013 festival in Goa on November 7, 2013.

Read: Delay no more! Court orders framing of charges against Tarun Tejpal

The case came to light when a number of media houses published a leaked trail of emails exchanged between the woman, Tejpal and the managing editor of Tehelka, Shoma Chaudhary. This further led Tejpal to step down from his post of editor-in-chief of the media house in November 2013, for six months to ‘recuse’ himself.

Tarun Tejpal, the one-time hero of ‘Liberal-secular’ media industry, has been booked under Sections 376 (rape), 341 (wrongful restraint), 342 (wrongful confinement) 354A (sexual harassment) and 354B (criminal assault) of the Indian Penal Code.

Congress allies with IUML and Shiv Sena: Lust for power dictates coalition politics now, not respect for constituent and ideology

Yogesh Attray
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Congress allies with IUML and Shiv Sena: Lust for power dictates coalition politics now, not respect for constituent and ideology

The fall of one-party dominant system or what famous political scientist Rajni Kothari termed as ‘Congress System’ in the 1970s led to an era of coalition politics. From the ‘Janta Government’ to ‘National Front’ government, the era of coalition government witnessed parties cutting across different ideologies coming together to form a government.

Even in states, stretching from Uttar Pradesh to Bihar to Maharashtra, all of it witnessed the formation of coalition governments. But, in most of these cases, the coalition governments failed to complete its full terms as it became evident that most of the parties that came to form the coalition government, came together to share the “spoils of power” rather than with an aim of providing a ‘stable government’.

Also, it was seen that the ‘senior partners’ in these coalition often took the parties with lesser numbers of legislators for granted and showed complete disregard for ‘coalition dharma’.

In this context it would not be an exaggeration to say that the only party that was able to honor its ‘coalition dharma’ was the party that could for the first time complete its term in a coalition government.

And that party was Bharatiya Janta Party under Atal Bihari Vajpayee as prime minister.

In 2011, when the nation was witnessing problems like rising prices and massive corruption and Congress-led UPA that was in power and was not able to take decisive steps to check these problems, they blamed ‘coalition politics’ for it.

Read: Hindu massacres and a demand for Sharia: The story of Rahul Gandhi’s ally IUML, an offshoot of Jinnah’s Muslim league

In February 2011 when asked at a press conference about the reappointment of A Raja as telecom minister in 2009 despite the allegations of corruption, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that he had to accept the DMK supremo M Karunanidhi’s choice since “compromises have to be made in the interests of coalition politics”.

It was the same Congress which in March 1991 had withdrawn support from Chandra Shekharover the allegation of ‘snooping’. Congress had alleged that on the orders of Chandra Shekharpolice was snooping on Rajiv Gandhi.

And, as chronicled in the political history of India, Congress time and again, because of petty reasons and personal ambitions showed complete disregard for its coalition partners.

After many twists and turns Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeraywas sworn in as Chief Minister of Maharashtra last month. Shiv Sena could form the government with the help of Sonia Gandhi-led Congress and Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party.

Following his oath, it was the Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was among the first to congratulate Uddhav Thackeray. “Congratulations to Uddhav Thackeray Ji on taking oath as the CM of Maharashtra. I am confident he will work diligently for the bright future of Maharashtra”, PM Modi tweeted.

While PM Modi’s message was a reflection of mature democracy where ideological differences never stop a person to honor a constitutional office, it is upon Uddhav Thackeray and Shiv Sena to understand that definition of ‘coalition dharma’ is very different for Bharatiya Janata Party and for Congress.

History is testimony to the fact that Congress has never cared about its coalition partners when it came to perusing its own self-interest. And, in this context the comment made by Union Home Minister during the debate on Citizenship (Amendment) Bill earlierthis week is of great importance.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah while rubbishing the Congress party’s claim that the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is communal in nature made a ‘spot on’ remark that the Congress is such a secular party that it has Muslim League as a coalition partner in Kerala and the Shiv Sena as an ally in Maharashtra.

The fact that Congress partners with the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra and ties up with the Muslim League in Kerala is testimony to the fact that it has least regard for any ideology when it comes to forming a government or else how is it possible to support two parties placed at two farthest ends of the spectrum at one point in time.

It goes on to show that for Congress coalition has always been an instrument of power-sharing whereas for Bharatiya Janata Party it has always been a need for providing stable government.

Read: Shiv Sena agrees to uphold ‘secular values’, work for ‘minorities’ in Maharashtra: Read details of Common Minimum Program

Bharatiya Janata Party has always honored its coalition partners and never seen them as an instrument to reach ‘magic number’ to form a government. It is evident from the fact in spite of getting a majority on its own in 2014 Lok Sabha elections Bharatiya Janata Party honored its ‘coalition dharma’ and gave all its coalition partners their due place in the government.

Similarly, in 2019 even after getting the massive mandate; that shocked all political pundits, Bharatiya Janata Party included its ‘smaller partners’ like Shiromani Akali Dal and Shiv Sena in the Union Cabinet.

The true litmus of ‘coalition dharma’ is honoring the constituents of the coalition even when their presence is insignificant for the purpose of the stability of the government.

The most honest yardstick of ‘coalition dharma’ is to keep ‘national interest’ at the front and let any coalition crumble if it tends to compromise with it.

Touchstone of ‘coalition dharma’ is honoring constituents, providing stable government and keeping national interest at front and not just being guided by the lust of power.

And Bharatiya Janata Party has always done this and Shiv Sena shall learn this sooner or later.

Uttar Pradesh woman raped last year in Delhi threatened with fate ‘worse than Unnao’ if she appears in court

OpIndia Staff
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Uttar Pradesh woman raped last year in Delhi threatened with fate ‘worse than Unnao’ if she appears in court

In the third such incident reported in the last few days, a rape survivor in western Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat, 53 km from Delhi, was allegedly threatened by the man she accused of rape of facing consequences “worse than that of the Unnao case”, referring to the victim who died after she was set on fire by the accused perpetrators last week.

A pamphlet had been pasted outside the house of a rape victim in Bijrol village of Baraut with the threat reading, “If you appear in the court on the given date to give your statement then you will face consequences worse than that of the Unnao victim.”

Pamphlet pasted outside the house of a rape victim in Bijrol village of Baraut.

The woman was allegedly raped in Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar last year, following which she filed a police complaint in July 2018. The rape-accused who was arrested by Delhi Police after the complaint was lodged had been released on bail on Wednesday. Reportedly, the pamphlet surfaced around the same time.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Baghpat, Pratap Gopender Yadav told ANI that the accused Soran Singh, who belonged to the same village as the victim has been again taken into custody following the woman’s complaint which said that Soran Singh had put up that poster outside her house. He also confirmed that adequate security has been provided to the victim.


The SP furthered that the rape survivor in the FIR lodged said that “the incident took place about a year ago when she was taken to a friend’s place by Sohran Singh where she was given drugs in a beverage and then raped. The accused made a video of the incident and used it to blackmail and rape the victim again.”

“The woman’s father works as a driver in Delhi. Yesterday, when they returned to their house in the village, they found the note pasted on the wall of their house,” Mr Yadav said.

The man accused of raping her, however, said that some of his rivals in the village had put up the posters to implicate him.

This is the third such incidents reported in the last few days where the rape accused has used the Unnao incident to threaten the victim. Yesterday, a minor girl, a victim of gang rape in Ghazipur area of Fatehpur district, has filed a complaint with the police claiming that the family members of the accused have threatened her with “Unnao-like” fate if she did not withdraw her complaint against the accused.

Prior to this, another minor girl from Kanpur was allegedly molested by some men, who even threatened her with the ‘Unnao rape victim-like fate’ if she approached the police for the same.

On the early hours of Thursday, December 5, the 23-year-old Unnao rape survivor was set on fire by pouring kerosene on her by five men, including the duo who are accused of raping her a year ago. The incident occurred at Sindupur village under the Bihar police station area on the wee hours of Thursday when the rape accused and his friends allegedly dragged the woman outside of her village, took her into the fields and doused her in kerosene before setting her on fire.

Partition imposed on minorities of Pakistan, temples, churches, gurdwaras vandalised: Here is what Modi said

OpIndia Staff
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Partition imposed on minorities of Pakistan, temples, churches, gurdwaras vandalised: Here is what Modi said

Launching a blistering attack on the Congress party, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the party failed to act on the issue of persecuted minorities in the neighbouring countries. He also blamed the party for misleading these minorities by making false promises to them in the past.

Speaking at an election rally in Dhanbad, Prime Minister Modi said that Congress governments in the past treated these refugees in a manner similar to the present condition in which they currently live in Pakistan.

He asked the public not to be misled by the Congress, which he said had promised relief to persecuted minority refugees but had never done anything for them.

“Congress leaders had promised citizenship to displaced people of Pakistan and Bangladesh. India was divided in 1947 and in 1971, Bangladesh was created. Those most affected were minority people living in those countries. The partition was imposed on the minorities to Hindu, Sikhs, Parsis, Jain, Christians living there for generations,” he added.

Read: Citizenship Amendment Bill debate: Opposition speaking the same language as Pakistan, says PM Modi

Targetting the Congress party for the partition of the country, PM Modi said that the minorities in these countries faced inhuman behaviour, especially the women, who subjected to different forms of exploitation after they were forced to accept partition and settle in these countries following the partition of India.

“The temples, churches, gurdwaras were vandalised. The minorities were living in different parts of the country for decades. Congress made hollow promises to them. It was the BJP which fulfilled the promise,” he added.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also accused opposition parties, especially Congress of spreading “lies” regarding the CAB, which grants citizenship to persecuted minorities in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

He also accused the Congress and the Opposition of trying “to set fire” to the Northeast, which has seen protests since the bill was passed in the Parliament.

Read: Citizenship Amendment Bill: Amit Shah lashes out at Congress, accuses it of singing the same tune as Pakistan PM Imran Khan

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also said the Congress had always avoided taking decisions on matters of national interest. “The Congress had deliberately kept the Ram Janmabhoomi dispute hanging for decades. Matters of national interest are secondary for them,” he said.

“They had also kept the issue of Jharkhand’s creation pending for five decades. It was the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led government that created Jharkhand,” he said.

Further, PM Modi also said the BJP scrapped Article 370 and implemented Indian laws and the Constitution in Jammu and Kashmir. He also said that his government framed laws for Triple Talaq, which helps not only Muslim women but also the men.

Cancellation of the Bangladesh FM’s visit and the passage of the CAB should not be linked: Read MEA response

OpIndia Staff
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Cancellation of the Bangladesh FM’s visit and the passage of the CAB should not be linked: Read MEA response

Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen has cancelled his visit to India citing “increasing demand at home”. Momen was scheduled to visit India from December 12-14. The Bangladeshi minister was to arrive in India on Thursday evening on a three-day visit for the Indian Ocean meet and Delhi Dialogue.

There were reports that the cancellation of his official trip was in response to the comments made by Union Home Minister Amit Shah during the passage of Citizenship Amendment Bill in parliament against religious persecution of minorities in Bangladesh.

Reacting to Amit Shah’s statement over religious persecution of minorities in their country, Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen had said, “There are a very few countries where communal harmony is as good as in Bangladesh. If he (Home Minister Amit Shah) stayed in Bangladesh for a few months, he would see exemplary communal harmony in our country”

However, the officials of the Ministry of External Affairs has refuted such claims made by sections of media and clarified that cancellation of Bangladesh Foreign Minister’s official trip to India is not connected to the ongoing events in India, especially Citizenship Amendment Bill.

Speaking to the media, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kunar said that the Bangladeshi Foreign Minister has given his explanation on cancelling his visit. He said the issue of the cancellation of the FM’s visit and the passage of the CAB should not be linked.

“Our relationship is strong. As leaders of both the countries have said, this is the golden age of our relations,” said Raveesh Kumar.


“I had to cancel my trip to New Delhi as I have to participate in the ‘Buddijibi Debosh’ and ‘Bijoy Debosh’ and more so as our State Minister is out of the country in Madrid and our Foreign Secretary is in The Hague,” the Bangladeshi minister had said while cancelling his visit.

Read: When 200 Hindu women were raped by Muslims: Read why HM Amit Shah mentioned the Bhola violence in Bangladesh

Reacting to earlier statements made by Bangladesh Foreign Minister on Amit Shah, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said that there seems to be some confusion regarding the issue.

“We have explained that religious persecution is not happening under the present government. Migrants who have sought refuge in India from Bangladesh have faced persecution and abuse on religious grounds during the military rule and also during the previous government in Bangladesh.

“We have also acknowledged & we are aware that the present govt in Bangladesh has taken several steps to address the concerns of minorities living there as per their Constitutional provisions,” he added.

After a long and heated debate, both the houses of Parliament has passed the Citizenship Amendment Bill. On Monday, the bill was passed in the Lok Sabha. The Rajya Sabha has passed the CAB with 125 votes in favour and 105 against. The Bill will now be law once the President signs on it.

The historic Citizenship Amendment Bill aims to grant Indian citizenship to thousands of non-Muslim refugees who have been staying in india before 2015.

5 instances in the latest Twitter rant by Imran Khan where he picked the ideas from the Congress party

OpIndia Staff
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5 instances in the latest Twitter rant by Imran Khan where he picked the ideas from the Congress party

Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan continued with his nonsensical rants on Twitter on Thursday inspired by Congress. Ever since the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu & Kashmir, Imran Khan has attempted to engage in ‘Twitter Diplomacy’ to corner India but hasn’t had much success. After the Citizenship Amendment Bill was passed by both the houses of the Upper Parliament, it was only to be expected that he will have something to say that makes little sense.

In a tweet thread, Imran Khan deemed the abrogation of Article 370 to be illegal and called it ‘annexation’ of J&K. Then, he claimed that two million Indian Muslims were stripped of citizenship in Assa, a claim that is patently false. Around 19 lakh people in Assam did not find their names in the NRC, of which around 5 lakhs were Hindus. This means that the remaining Muslims are not Indian citizens but entered India illegally from Bangladesh.


Moving forward, Imran Khan, who happens to be the symbolic head of an Islamic State, labelled India ‘Hindu Supremacist’ despite the fact that India is a secular country. He compared India to Nazi Germany and raked the familiar trope of ‘mob lynchings’.


Only yesterday, Home Minister Amit Shah accused the Congress party of speaking the same language as Pakistan and Imran Khan. Given the latest tweet thread by Imran Khan, it can’t be denied that the argument is indeed valid. It is a good time, perhaps, to compare the stance taken by Imran Khan and that by the Congress party on the issues mentioned.

Article 370 and Kashmir

Imran Khan has always maintained that the abrogation of Article 370 was illegal and has vehemently opposed the move. He has also appealed to the international bodies to meddle in Indian internal affairs. The Congress party has the same stand on the matter. In a resolution adopted by the Congress Working Committee on the 6th of August, the party claimed that ‘every principle of Constitutional law, States’ rights, Parliamentary procedure and democratic governance was violated’ during the abrogation of Article 370. The Congress party and Imran Khan basically have the same stand on the issue, that Article 370 was abrogated in an illegal manner.

Following the abrogation of Article 370, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury had kicked up a storm by questioning the government whether Article 370 and the state of Jammu and Kashmir is an internal matter. He questioned how can matters related to Jammu and Kashmir be ‘internal’ if it is being monitored by the UN since 1948. Shashi Tharoor, recently, had cheered for foreign interference on the matter by the USA.

The NRC

Imran Khan claims that two million ‘Indian Muslims’ have been stripped on citizenship. The Congress party, too, has opposed the NRC tooth and nail. The Congress party had expressed its opposition by claiming that 40 lakh exclusions in the final draft of the NRC were too high and surprising. It was alleged that the BJP had a political motive behind the NRC. Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge too had termed the exclusion to be wrong. The number came down to two million later.

More recently, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, leader of the Congress party in the Rajya Sabha, attempted to undermine the NRC by labelling Narendra Modi and Amit Shah as illegal immigrants. He, too, made it an explicitly religious issue.

Mob Lynching

The Prime Minister of Pakistan has constantly made an issue out of the ‘mob lynching’ narrative. While the crimes do need to be addressed, this is entirely an internal matter of India. Furthermore, the ‘mob lynchings’ are reflective of a law and order problem, rather than a communal one. But the Congress party and Imran Khan are united in their belief that the crimes must be used to target Prime Minister Modi and damage India’s reputation.

The Congress party promised a new law in its 2019 election manifesto to curb ‘mob lynching’, which distinctly reminded one of their Communal Violence Bill initiative that automatically deemed Hindus as aggressors and Muslims as victims in every instance of communal violence.

Praveen Chakraborty, who heads the Congress party’s data analytics department, is the founding trustee of IndiaSpend which came up with the dubious ‘hate-tracker’ that manipulated, misrepresented and tortured data to paint Hindus as aggressors and Muslims as victims all the time. Thus, it won’t be farfetched to say that Imran Khan is merely borrowing a leaf out of the Congress’ playbook to attack Narendra Modi.

Citizenship Amendment Bill

The subject matter of Imran Khan’s latest rants is the CAB, which the Congress party opposed tooth and nail in the Parliament. In the process of doing so, Anand Sharma of the Congress party absolved the Islamic fundamentalists of all sins for the creation of Pakistan and placed the blame entirely on the feet of Hindu Nationalists. Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal claimed that the Bill was of Jinnah and Savarkar’s dreams.

The Congress party also called the Bill unconstitutional and in violation of the Articles of the Constitution, a claim that has been disputed by Harish Salve, one of the leading legal luminaries in the country. Thus, even on the CAB, the Congress party and Imran Khan’s opinions are perfectly in alignment with each other.

The Hitler Comparison

Imran Khan has been comparing India to Nazi Germany ever since the abrogation of Article 370 and Narendra Modi to Hitler. The Congress party has been indulging in such comparisons even earlier. In April, Congress IT Cell head shared a morphed image of Adolf Hitler to compare him to Narendra Modi. Sam Pitroda, the ideological mentor of Rahul Gandhi, had indulged in such comparisons in March. Thus, it’s another instance where Imran Khan picked up a narrative initiated by the Congress party.

Win for Hindus as the Supreme Court dismisses all 18 petitions seeking review of the historic Ayodhya verdict

OpIndia Staff
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Win for Hindus as the Supreme Court dismisses all 18 petitions seeking review of the historic Ayodhya verdict

The five-judge SC bench headed bu CJI SA Bobde has dismissed all petitions seeking review of Ayodhya verdict of November 9, which in a landmark decision handed over the entire disputed land to Ram Lalla, the deity, for a Ram temple to be built at the site.


The Supreme Court which today conducted an in-chamber hearing of a bunch of review petitions filed against the Ayodhya ruling rejected them after finding no merits.

A 5-judge bench, headed by the then CJI Gogoi, had in a unanimous verdict on November 9 decreed the entire 2.77 acres disputed land in favour of deity ‘Ram Lalla’ and also directed the Centre to allot a five-acre plot to Sunni Waqf Board for building a mosque in Ayodhya.

Read: Allah’s law above all: Jamia Millia students group plans event calling Ayodhya verdict a farce, Ramrajya ‘oppressive’

Eighteen review petitions have so far been filed in the apex court against the November 9 decision, of which eight were filed by those who were parties in the Ayodhya land title dispute and rest by third parties who were not directly involved in the decade-old legal battle.

The review petitions have been filed by Mufti Hasbullah, Moulana Mahfoozur Rehman, Mohammad Umar, Haji Mehboob, Misbahuddin, Haji Asad Ahmed, Shia Central Board of Waqfs and Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha who were litigants in the title suit. Moreover, a group of 40 academicians and activists, including Irfan Habib, Jayati Ghosh, Nandini Sundar and Prabhat Patnaik, had also filed a petition to review the SC’ November 9 decision.

The petition, settled by senior advocates Rajeev Dhavan and Zafryab Jilani, said he did not wish to “disturb the peace of this great Nation”, but “any peace must be conducive to justice”.

Read: Dharma, Deva, Desha: Three phases of Ram Janmabhoomi movement, who decided Babri Masjid had to go and day of reckoning

The plea said, “Muslims have always maintained the peace but Muslims and their properties have been a victim of violence and unfairness treatment. This review is part of a quest for justice. The judgment under review erred in privileging peace over justice while not appreciating that there could be no peace without justice.”

On December 2, the first plea seeking review of Ayodhya verdict was filed in the apex court by Maulana Syed Ashhad Rashidi, the Uttar Pradesh president of the Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind.

On December 6, six more petitions were filed in the Supreme Court seeking review of its November 9 judgement, which included one by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) which had chosen December 6 as the date to file the review petition as it was the anniversary of Babri Masjid demolition, sources said.

Then two more review petitions were filed on December 9, one by the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha and the other one by a group of intellectuals.

While the  Hindu Mahasabha had decided to file a review petition against the judgement wherein the apex court also granted 5 acres of land at an alternate site at a prominent location in Ayodhya to the Sunni Waqf Board to rebuild the Masjid which was demolished in 1992, the Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind (JuH), a key Muslim litigant in the Ayodhya title suit had made several flip-flops before filing the review petition.

The petitioners, known for their consistent Left-leaning stance on diverse issues, agreed that there is no doubt about Ayodhya being the birth-place of Lord Rama, but said that there is no conclusive evidence of the existence of a temple at the site where Babri mosque was built.

He holds me captive, tortures, threatens to kill: SP leader Aafaq Khan booked for sexually assaulting woman for 5 years

OpIndia Staff
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He holds me captive, tortures, threatens to kill: SP leader Aafaq Khan booked for sexually assaulting woman for 5 years

Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Aafaq Khan has been booked for sexually exploiting a woman and blackmailing her. The SP leader representing Kannauj district in Uttar Pradesh who is married with eight children has been sexually exploiting the victim for the last 5 years and threatening to malign her reputation, in case she brought it out in the open. According to the victim, Khan always carries a weapon and threatens her of dire consequences if she tries to resist him.

“Aafaq Khan is married with eight children but since 2014, he has been sexually exploiting me and threatens to malign my reputation. He holds me captive and mentally tortures me. He has also been threatening to defame me on social media,” said the 36-year-old victim in the FIR, furthering: “I am now seriously ill and want to be freed from his clutches. Aafaq Khan carries a firearm and threatens to kill me if I offer any resistance.”

Read: Bhopal: Woman given triple talaq by husband, raped by ‘healer’ Anwar Khan on pretext of Halala

The victim allegedly came in contact with Aafaq Khan, leader of the Samajwadi Yuvjan Sabha who has now been booked, when she was looking for a job after the death of her father.

According to sources in Kannauj police station, the FIR against the SP leader was registered on December 4, 2019, and investigations into the case have been initiated.

The FIR has been lodged at the Chhibramau police station of Kannauj district under sections 342 (wrongful confinement), 376 (rape), 500 (punishment for defamation), and 508 (whoever voluntarily causes or attempts to cause any person to do anything which that person is not legally bound to do) of IPC.

Read: Unnao rape case: Accused claims he was in hospital when the December rape was committed, medical officer says documents are fake

Notably, Kannauj in Uttar Pradesh until 2019 has been Samajwadi Party’s bastion. Wife of Samajwadi Party supremo and former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, Dimple Yadav, won Kannauj in a by-election in 2012 and then in 2014. Prior to her, Akhilesh Yadav had won the seat thrice in 2000, 2004 and 2009. The SP lost the seat to BJP in 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Sanjiv Bhatt lied, told an imaginary ‘story’ about meeting the then Gujarat CM Modi, says Nanavati-Mehta Commission report

OpIndia Staff
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Sanjiv Bhatt lied, told an imaginary ‘story’ about meeting the then Gujarat CM Modi, says Nanavati-Mehta Commission report

After giving a clean chit to the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for his alleged role in the post-Godhra Train Burning riots, the Nanavati-Mehta commission report also busted the tainted, jailed ex-IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt’s big lie against Prime Minister Narendra Modi (then Gujarat’s Chief Minister).

The report, as mentioned by Times Of India, concluded that the former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt who is currently serving life imprisonment in a custodial death case had lied and made up stories of him attending a meeting at the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s residence on February 27, 2002.

Bhatt, who became a big face of the anti-Modi lobby, alleged in 2011 that during the 2002 post-Godhra riots, the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi had called a meeting at his residence on 27 February 2002 to “let Hindus vent out their anger against Muslims so that repeat of Godhra-like incident never happens in the state”.

Bhatt, in an affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court, had claimed that this meeting took place following the Sabarmati Express burning incident in which 59 Ayodhya Kar Sevaks had died.

At the time of the alleged meeting, Bhatt was the deputy commissioner in the state intelligence bureau. He further stated in the affidavit that the meeting was attended by eight top police officers. Bhatt also alleged that the SIT constituted to probe the riots was trying to protect the Gujarat government.

The Nanavati-Mehta commission report has, however, rubbished Bhatt’s allegations saying that he used a false document, a fax message, to support his presence at the meeting. “On consideration of the evidence, it clearly appears that Bhatt is not telling the truth with regards to what happened in the meeting held on February 27, 2002, at the CM’s residence. Claims made by him of being present in the meeting appear to false”, stated the second part of the report of the ‘Commission of Inquiry’ by Justice G T Nanavati and Justice Akshay Mehta.

The report adds that Bhatt’s claims about chief minister Modi’s statements were a story made up by him and “deserve to be discarded as false”.

The commission stated that the copy of the fax message, which Bhatt had used to claim he was present in the February 27, 2002 meeting with the then Gujarat CM Modi, was, in fact, sent on March 2, 2002, by one PP Upadhyay, about an incident in Pandarva, Panchmahal.

Read: Read how Abdul Sattar and Shabana Bano framed Shashikant during 2002 riots over a personal dispute and ruined lives of a family

Bhatt had claimed that he had reached to the meeting accompanying K Chakravarthy, the then Gujarat DGP in his car. However, Chakravarty had refuted Bhatt’s claim.

This was the second part of the Nanavati-Mehta Commission report that was tabled. The first part was submitted in 2008 and covered the Godhra train burning incident. It had concluded that the said incident was part of a “planned conspiracy”. The first part, too, had given a clean chit to Narendra Modi.

Sanjiv Bhatt was a part of the brigade which has spread numerous canards over the years regarding the state government’s alleged involvement in the riots. While Bhatt has in these years enjoyed much media attention over his sensational allegations, his lie was finally caught by the Nanavati-Mehta report tabled at the Gujarat assembly yesterday.

Notably, former cop Sajiv Bhatt was arrested by the Gujarat CID over a 1998 case of planting drugs. The Palanpur Drug planting case pertains to an incident in 1998 when Sanjiv Bhatt was serving as the DCP of Banaskantha. He was then accused of trying to frame lawyer Sumersingh Rajpurohit in a fake narcotics case under Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substance (NDPS) Act by planting 1.25 kg opium in a hotel room in Palanpur in Banaskantha district in 1996.

Bhatt who had gained media attention and sympathy of the anti-Modi brigade for his propaganda agaisnt the PM, had been caught several times spreading fake news to help his agenda.

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